Military News

Brian Sandoval, a Mansfield native, decided to raise his right hand and reenlist in the United States Navy for four more years.

A Builder Third Class (BU3), Sandoval is currently assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 (NMCB 74), based in Gulfport, Miss. He came into the Navy on March 7 a Fire Controlman, earning the distinction of Honor Graduate in “A” school.

Soon after, Sandoval changed jobs due to overmanning, “crossrating” to become a Seabee. After graduating Builder “A” school and advancing to BU3, Sandoval made his first deployment with NMCB 74 to Okinawa, Japan, where he was a crewmember on a communication pad construction project.

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In NMCB 74’s most recent deployment, and its last before its decommissioning, Sandoval deployed to Fort Campbell, Ky. As a crew leader this time, he directed the construction of a heavy timber obstacle course built to assist the training of Army Night Stalker Candidates. The completed course was 1⁄4 mile long, consisting of eight obstacles, one reaching a height of 40 feet and requiring the use of a man-lift.

Sandoval will transfer to NMCB 1 where he looks forward to working on his engineering degree while continuing to serve.

Sandoval is married to Kimberly Sandoval. They have a daughter, Lily, who will turn 2 in November.

Breedlove

Matthew M. Breedlove, an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadet at University of Texas at Arlington, has graduated from the Leader Development and Assessment Course at Fort Knox, Ky.

The 29 days of training provide the best possible professional training and evaluation for all cadets in the aspects of military life, administration and logistical support. Although continued military training and leadership development is included in the curriculum, the primary focus of the course is to develop and evaluate each cadet's officer potential by exercising the cadet's intelligence, common sense, ingenuity and physical stamina. The cadet command assesses each cadet's performance and progress in officer traits, qualities and professionalism while attending the course.

Cadets usually attend LDAC between their junior and senior years of college, and they must complete the course to qualify for commissioning. Upon successful completion of the course, the ROTC program, and graduation from college, cadets are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army, Army National Guard or Army Reserve.

Breedlove is the son of Daniel T. Breedlove of Benbrook, and Jodi L. Compton of Mansfield.